Pubs and restaurants will face survival battle even after reopening: The Yorkshire Post says

While official guidance is yet to be published, the example set by shops and supermarkets gives a good indicator of how risk can be minimised - although not entirely eliminated.

But while reaching the point of being able to reopen is a major achievement for many within Yorkshire’s hospitality industry who have had their livelihoods put on hold for months, the next major challenge will be managing to turn a profit and remain viable under the new restrictions on how they operate.

This will be no easy task, especially as there will be substantial reductions on the numbers of customers inside one premises at any one time.

The scale of the challenge is spelt out by KPMG UK’s latest quarterly Economic Outlook, which warns that the continuing impact of the COVID-19 virus is expected to see Yorkshire’s economy contract by 7.1 per cent in 2020 - and most pertinently that the economy is unlikely to be able to fully restart until a vaccine or effective treatments for the virus are available.

The carefully-staged return of the hospitality sector is undoubtedly cause for good cheer - not least when you consider Yorkshire’s tourism industry alone is worth an estimated £9bn per year and supports 225,000 jobs - but there can be no illusions that life will be returning to normal any time soon.

With the furlough scheme being wound down in the coming months and the threat that this newest relaxation of rules will be the first to be reversed if the virus spreads more widely again, a tense few months lies ahead for countless businesses and employees across the country.

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor